“I Was Doing ABM Before I Knew It Had a Name”: How Alex Baud Built a Sales-First ABM Engine at CMSPI

We sat down with Alex Baud, Head of ABM at CMSPI, who’s been at the company for nearly a decade, and has gone from running basic marketing tasks to redefining what Account-Based Marketing looks like in a high-stakes B2B world.

Spoiler: He didn’t “choose” ABM. It kind of found him.

“I was working so closely with sales, I wasn’t really doing marketing anymore… Then I heard someone describe ABM at a conference and I was like oh, that’s what I’ve been doing.”

In this episode of ABM Answered, Alex took on community challenges from other ABMers across the space, from MongoDB and Akamai to Scrappy ABM and Blue Yonder. Here's what went down, and why Alex thinks the MQL is… well, terminal.

Attribution Talk

Alex Pappas from CyberArk kicked things off with a classic:

“What’s been your best success in showing attribution and impact in ABM?”

(aka: “How do we prove ABM actually works without making another 18-slide deck?”)

For Alex, impact starts with knowing your baseline.

“You need to know exactly where you started with an account, because if you’re starting from zero, even a coffee chat is progress.”

He doesn’t get caught up in vanity metrics like clicks and pageviews. His team tracks the sales stuff: actual conversations, email replies, meetings booked, contracts signed. That’s what moves the needle.

Also, sales and marketing don’t fight over credit at CMSPI ; they debrief together and review what content helped open doors. If sales is asking you to remake the same infographic for the next deal? That’s attribution gold.

(“The request is a compliment.” Someone put that on a T-shirt.)

The “No Budget, No Problem” ABM Starter Pack

Jillian Kondamudi (Dalton)asked the most relatable ABM question of all time:

“What should a solo ABMer do with zero budget?”

Alex’s take: 

Forget martech. Start with alignment.

“If your sales team isn’t on board, even a $200K budget won’t save you.”

When Alex launched ABM at CMSPI, he had almost no budget but what he did have was tight coordination with sales. SDRs sent personalized invites. Everyone shared account intel. It wasn’t flashy, but it was real.

(Teamwork > tech stack. Always.)

The Wildest ABM Tactic That Actually Worked

Kyla Nuesa at MongoDB wanted to hear the weird stuff and we love that too :)

“What’s one unconventional ABM tactic that surprised you by how well it worked?”

Honestly, we’re all ears for chaos that delivers.

For ALex: Asking questions. Literally.

Whether it’s interviewing a sales rep about an account or politely asking a lost prospect why they didn’t choose you, information is your secret weapon and it’s free.

“Oh, and don’t forget to ask why you won, too. That part matters.”

It’s not fancy. It’s not AI. It’s human. And it works.

What’s Your Go-To for Campaign Inspiration?

Jim Gilkey from Scrappy ABM (great great agency) came through with this one: “Where do you go to find real campaign inspiration that actually works?”

Alex keeps it close to home.

Not LinkedIn. Not case studies. His own backlog.

“We’re a super niche business. I don’t look externally much. I just look at what’s worked before, and what hasn’t.”

That means revisiting past ABM plays, identifying signals in closed-lost deals, and repurposing successful tactics (with a twist) for new accounts.

One-to-One, One-to-Few, or One-to-Many? What’s the Split?

This question came in hot from Robert Norum (a man who’s seen more ABM frameworks than most of us have seen memes):

“What’s the ideal mix between ABM for existing vs. new accounts? And how do you split between one-to-one, few, or many?”

Alex runs almost entirely new-logo ABM, by choice. It’s harder, sure, but it builds real business.

His advice: start with one-to-few ABM. Because it’s the sweet spot between personal and scalable. When you're early in your ABM journey and trying to build a business case, one-to-few gives you room to test, tweak, and still show meaningful results.

“One-to-many isn’t really ABM. It’s just…fancy marketing. And one-to-one is risky unless you’ve got deep intel. One-to-few gives you the right balance of focus and flexibility.”

For CMSPI, this approach delivered enough wins to later isolate key accounts for one-to-one attention.

(It’s like planting seeds in five pots and seeing which blooms. Then giving the best one its own greenhouse.)

Case Study Time: Turning 18 Webinar Attendees into 80% Coverage

Kelly Maloney Schermerhorn from Pega wanted receipts:

“Can you share a real success story, including the challenges and how you overcame them?”

Alex shared a 2020 campaign that led to CMSPI working with 80% of the companies in the program… years later.

It started with a three-month sprint targeting ~20 key accounts in a specific vertical. The goal? A private webinar.

His team used a smart mix of semi-templated (but still personalized) content using data from public sources like annual reports. The result? 18 of the 20 accounts attended the webinar.

Over time, those early conversations turned into long-term client relationships.

(Let’s be honest: That’s ABM compounding in real time.)

Is the MQL Dead?

And finally, we posed Chris Rack's (Mockingbird) fun provocative Q:

“Is the MQL still relevant, or is it bleeding out?”

Alex's problem with MQLs is that they create division. By labeling something as a "marketing lead," you set up an artificial wall between sales and marketing. And in ABM, that wall is exactly what you’re trying to break down.

Every touchpoint, from an email to a webinar, is collaborative. So why assign the credit to one team?

(In Alex’s words: “MQLs just aren’t helpful anymore.” Amen.)

And Finally... If You Could Build Any Tool for ABM?

Alex wants a magical CRM that captures what people already know, without anyone having to manually update it.

“Just plug in the knowledge that’s in someone’s head. No chip implants, please.”

Until then, we’ll keep begging sales to log their notes. Sigh.

One Last Shoutout…

Big thank you to Alex for joining us and walking us through his unfiltered take on ABM. This was one of those episodes that reminds you ABM isn’t about tech stacks, buzzwords, or being flashy.

It’s about relationships, feedback loops, real conversations, and getting sales to actually enjoy working with you.

Also, he left us with a challenge for the next guest:

“What do you do when none of your digital channels work? When LinkedIn, email, and paid aren’t breaking through… what’s your next move?”

We’ll be taking that question forward. And if you’re reading this and thinking “yeah, I’ve been there,” then maybe you’ve got more in common with Alex than you thought.

Oh, and big ups to the legends who asked the questions, You made this episode what it was.